This first report was submitted by
Associate Vice President (AVP) Andy
Figlar.

Connecticut might be the third-smallest State of the Union, but it is
a giant in the aircraft industry and in
ground-breaking flight advancements.
Two museums bring these facts from
legend to reality. The first is located in
Windsor Locks, Connecticut, at the New
England Air Museum, where thousands
of parts and complete airplanes reside
in stately display for anyone to view in
awe. The second is in Stratford, at the
Connecticut Air and Space Center.

The unique resident of flight residing
there is Gustave Whitehead’s No. 21
Airship that most residents of New
England believe is the very first airplane
to fly. As Eugene Madera, president
of the Air and Space Center said,
“Everything that happened in aviation
history, happened here in Connecticut.”
He was referring to Gustave’s powered
and manned controlled airplane flight on
August 14, 1901.

Two important books with pictures
and other documentation were written
by Stella Randolph detailing eyewitness
accounts and interviews that she did
in 1937. They are The Lost Flights of
Gustave Whitehead and Before the
Wrights Flew. Both books are extremely
rare.

My interest to be in the museum
involved my cousins, Louis and Richard
Remains. They wanted to learn more
about their Hungarian grandfather,
Louis Renkavinski, who helped Gustave
Whitehead build the engines for the No.
21 Airship.

Curiosity led to a team of model
airplane builders, shop teachers, and
students to build a full-scale flying
replica of the Whitehead airplane.
Student Chris Harsco from Platt
Technical School, advanced model
builder Bill Wargi, and Platt teacher
and pilot Andy Kusch, built and
successfully flew the Whitehead
Replica in 1985.

In March 8, 2013, the world’s
foremost authority on aviation history,
Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, formally
recognized Gustave Whitehead as
first in powered flight and the State
of Connecticut honored Whitehead’s
achievement with a bill signed by Gov.
Dannel Malloy.

The Connecticut Air and Space
Center also features full-scale repair
shops, a museum, lecture rooms, and
aircraft memorabilia from the history of
Sikorsky and the Aveco engine plant. It
is currently restoring an FG-1D Corsair,
building the parts as needed. More than
6,000 Corsairs were turned out at the
Aveco Plant during World War II, and
later in the Korean War where the F4U-
5N version flew. At the museum, full-scale airplane restorer Mark Corvine will
be happy to give you, free of charge, a
history of how the Corsair was built!

Thanks Andy for this interesting report,
which prompted me to Google
Gustave. It turns out that more than
enough evidence and accounts of his
flight have convinced the leading
historians that Gustave Whitehead did
indeed fly his aircraft before the Wright
brothers. I found a video of Gustave’s
airplane (replica) in flight at https://
www.youtube/watch?v=Ucm
80BYUXEE.

Richard Renkavinsky’s father (L) helped
Gustave build the engines for the No. 21

Airship. His cousin is AVP Andy Figlar (R).

The Fairfield League of Yankee RCers made a visit to the Connecticut Air and Space Center. Behind
them is a 1945 FG-1D Corsair that is being restored.

Gustave Whitehouse flew his No. 21 Airship on
August 14, 1901, before the Wright brothers
flew!